Angels Are (Not) Real
by DisneyxFanasty
Summary: Earl Harlan finds himself, yet again, alone. His first love is with another and his newer fling takes a turn when Marcus disappears. Can he ever find a way to be happy again? EarlxMarcus, little of CecilxEarl, mention of CecilxCarlos.
1. Can I Say Something Crazy?

_"__I'll get back to you on that or whatever."_

That was the very last text Earl got from Marcus Vansten before never seeing him again. It was weird to think that the Scout leader of Night Vale was dating? (Earl never knew if they were dating or not. He wanted to believe they were) Anyway, dating the richest man in Night Vale, which was like a huge deal to the community.

The story about how they met was very…normal actually. Well, what is even normal to begin with, right?

About a year ago, before Earl ever knew what all was going on in Night Vale while he was away on his annual camping trip; he finally decided that he needed to get his lost love back. He needed to get the love of his life back in his life and make sure he stayed with him. He needed his childhood best friend that was more than a best friend to him. He needed his Cecil Palmer.

Once he got back into town, that night, he decided to pay Cecil a visit.

"Okay, Earl, you got this." he thought to himself as he walked up to his friend's house. "You just need to tell him how you feel. Be honest and be strong."

He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Moments later, he is greeted with the smile he had missed for such a long time.

"Earl? I didn't know you were back in town." Cecil said, his dark blue eyes looking into his own emerald green ones. "You should have called me or something! Come in!"

"Thanks." Earl said, walking in, hoping his face wasn't glowing bright red like the sun when it did actually set in the west. He looked over to Cecil and bit his tongue. He had changed tremendously. True, after high school, they both kinda went their separate ways in life. Cecil had his radio show and Earl had his boy scouts to take care of, but, damn, he wished he didn't miss as much as he did.

Cecil was beautiful. His short brown hair what was gelled back in such a professional way, kind of looking like one of those old time radio host that Cecil dreamed about being, made it very easy to see his big mysterious eyes. It was like when you looked into them, they pulled you into an abyss and never let you go. You couldn't look away from him. His light skin was covered in tattoos that he has had for years, yet some looked to be quite new. His light blue button up and black dress pants looked sex- _very nice_ on his tall, lean form. It was weird. Before, Earl was taller than him, but now he didn't have to look down to him. He actually had to look up to him a little. Cecil wasn't the little Boy Scout that always got in trouble. He grew up.

Earl could say he grew up too, but probably not as handsome. His face and arms and well, his whole body was covered in more freckles now from being out in the sun all the time. His ginger hair now longer; he had to run his rough fingers through his soft hair to pull his bangs out of his eyes. He grew a little muscle from camping over the years though it didn't really show it. He tried to find shirts that would help him show it, like today, but he knew it would never work. Mostly, he still looked like the boy with the braces ready to earn yet another patch.

"So what have you been up to?" Cecil asked, sitting down on the couch, Khoshekh jumping onto his lap.

"Oh you know, being outdoors, trying to live off the land and all that nature shit." Earl replied, sitting down next to him. He held his hand out, letting the small creature sniff him. Khoshekh suddenly jumped on his lap and nuzzled close, purring loudly.

"Once again, you always find a way to make animals like you." Cecil teased. He was right though, growing up Earl would bring home animal after animal, asking and begging to keep it. At one point, he had a small zoo in the back of his yard.

"Well, he is a sweet cat and if he is anything like his owner-" he stopped himself from saying more. He looked down and petted the small kitten quietly, not noticing the small color that appeared on Cecil's cheeks. "S-So what about you, Mr. Radio Host?"

Cecil chuckled and shrugged. "You know how it is, just reading what they give to me. Mostly there has been nothing new. I mean, you have listened to my show, right?"

"Every time you are on I try to." Earl said, blushing brighter. He wasn't lying. He always listened to his friend's show, mostly just to hear his voice.

"O-Oh, um, that is very kind of you." Cecil stuttered, not thinking he would say something like that. "Well, I do have some news I want to tell you about! I haven't really told anyone yet and since you are my good friend I want you to be the first to know."

Earl looked up at him and smiled a little. "I have something to tell you too." He placed Khoshekh down and scooted a little closer to Cecil on the couch. "Do you mind if I go first?"

Cecil looked at his old friend and smiled sadly. "Sure. You know I could never say no to you."

Earl sat there for a moment before taking a deep breath. "Cecil, I know I haven't been around a lot. After graduation, I didn't get to see you as much as I wanted. I understand that we both had to do what we were assigned and work and responsibilities, but," he nervously took a hold of Cecil's hand, his rough one wrapped around the other's soft and warm one, "I don't care about those anymore. I have been thinking and I hate being alone. I hate me waking up to no one and having no one around with me during the day. When I get lonely, I think about when we were children, us being together all the time. You are my best friend and I don't want to lose that, but…but we can't stop fighting it."

Cecil raised his eyebrow and looked confused. "Earl, what are you talking about? Stop fighting what?"

"Us! Us being something! More than friends! Cecil, I can't stay this way anymore. I need you in my life. I need you in my life. I-I love you, Cecil Palmer!"

Before he could think of anything else, he leaned in and kissed Cecil deeply on the lips.

* * *

><p>Hi guys! It has been a while since I have wrote anything I have noticed so I thought why not give it another shot, right? So um, yeah. Gonna put up more soon and hope you enjoy and thank you for reading!<p> 


	2. Why Don't You Love Me?

Cecil gasped at this, but slowly closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around the other's, pulling him closing, having their bodies pressed together as much as they could sitting up on the couch, which Earl didn't protest at all. This is what he has been waiting for. He missed feeling Cecil this close to him. He missed having him in his arms and the other way around. He missed his sweet tasting lips against his. He let out a small moan, which Cecil followed in his footsteps seconds later, and gently placed his hand on Cecil's thigh and like that, it was like a switch went off in Cecil.

Cecil opened his eyes and pushed Earl away from him, both of them panting heavily.

"N-No…No!" he muttered out. "Earl, I can't do this. I shouldn't have done this. Fuck…What is Carlos going to say?" he asked himself, pulling at his hair.

"Wait, who is hell is Carlos?" Earl asked, completely lost at what was going on. "I thought you wanted to kiss me?"

"I-I did, a little, but you pushed yourself on me! I shouldn't have done this…" he quickly got up and began to pace around the room. "I was going to tell you that I am seeing someone, Earl. His name is Carlos. He came into town a couple of months ago and we kinda hit it off. He is a scientist and is very handsome and his hair is like a field of cat hair you can make sweaters out of and his voice and-"

"Time out, you mean to tell me that for the past couple of months, you have been with someone else?" Earl asked, feeling his heart begin to rip. "W-Why didn't you tell me this first? Why do I just now know about this? Why did you kiss me back then?"

"I don't know! I had no idea what you were going on about at first and I was going to tell you, but you wanted to talk first. Early, I was going to tell you about this, about me and Carlos. You are my best friend." Cecil said, sitting back down next to him and he was about to place his hand on Earl's shoulder before he slapped it away.

"Best friends just don't kiss like we just did. Best friends don't miss each other as bad as I missed you. Best friends do not do what we did half the time during boy scouts. Do you remember those nights? Sharing a tent? Cuddling by the fire? Hiking by ourselves to our 'special spot?' We are not just best friends! There has to be more there!" Earl explained. He felt his eyes begin to swell up with tears, but he choked them back, not wanting to cry just yet.

Cecil sighed and pulled away. "You're right. We have done much more than regular friends do, but…I can't be with you. I don't want to lose you as a friend."

"Why? Why can't you be with me?" Earl asked, looking Cecil right in his eyes, giving him a look of anger and disappointment and hurt. "You can kiss me just like that, but you can't be mine? What is it about this other guy that is so different?"

"I love him, Earl. I guess I lost my love for you once you pushed me away." Cecil glances away, biting his lower lip. "I used to love you so much. All I wanted to do was be with you. You were my whole world; my everything, but…but you didn't want that at the time. All you cared about was being the best Scout Master you could be so I decided to work on my career too. I mean, look at me. I am the voice of Night Vale now. I have come a long way…without you."

As he explained this, Earl swallowed hard, wanting to cry out. He wanted to explain to him why he did what he did, but he knew there was no excuse for it.

"I moved on and so should you. I don't love you like before. I can't be with you on your own time. You can't be together once you want us to. Time, which isn't functional at all, isn't something you control. You can't tell me when I can and can't love you." Cecil stood up, sniffling quietly.

Earl could tell that he started to cry, but right now he didn't care. Hearing those words come from his mouth; he felt his heart fall into his chest and shatter into millions of pieces. He didn't notice either that tears were dripping down his cheeks.

Cecil walked over to the door and opened it up. "I think you should go…Carlos is coming over later on and I want to clean up a little." he muttered, leaning his head on the door.

Earl sat there for a moment, collecting his thoughts before standing up and going over towards Cecil.

"Did I really fuck up that bad?" he asked with a sniffle, wiping his tears away.

"Earl, please…please just go." Cecil choked out, not even looking at him.

Earl knew that he had messed up before, but he never thought it was this bad. He nodded his head and walked out, only to look back once he heard the door close. Here he was, standing in the middle of the neighborhood, his heart broken. He couldn't fight the tears anymore. He couldn't fight anything anymore. Cecil didn't love him. He fucked up and now his heart belonged to someone else. He lost him.

"I just…I just thought you would want me back…" he whimpered to himself before walking on home.


End file.
